Traffic engineer predicted that as many as 150 children might be driven to school
By John Tredrea
A traffic consultant told the school board Monday night that the elimination of courtesy busing to Stony Brook Elementary School this fall could bring as many as 150 additional cars a day to the school.
Elimination of courtesy busing to Stony Brook is in the school district’s 2006-2007 budget. The elimination was opposed by many parents. Stony Brook is on Stephenson Road in the Brandon Farms development, in southeastern Hopewell Township.
Traffic engineer Douglas Freundenrich of Shropshire Associates predicted that, of the approximately 200 Stony Brook students who will lose busing, as many as 150 might be driven to school. He said this is a high estimate, meaning the number could be considerably lower than 150.
If the estimate proved accurate, "that’s 150 new cars on the road," Mr. Freundenrich said. "This would have to have some sort of impact." He said the two key intersections involved are those of Stephenson Road and Van Brunt Road with Pennington-Lawrenceville Road (Route 546). "They have the capacity to take on the extra vehicles and operate safely," he said.
However, called a "gray area . . . that deserves more discussion" by the traffic engineer was the impact 150 more cars would have on the parking lot and driveways of the school itself during pickup and drop-off times. "It’s really the length of curbside that you value in a situation like this," he said, because dropping students off at curbside means they do not have to traverse a parking lot with moving cars in it.
"Perhaps the school’s south parking lot could be connected to its north parking lot" to provide more curbside, he suggested.
The school board took no action on the written report summarized by Mr. Freundenrich, but accepted it for further study.
On another traffic issue, Mr. Freundenrich predicted there would be no serious adverse impacts on nearby intersections if the school district assumed ownership of South Timberlane Drive from Hopewell Township, as has been proposed. The takeover is under study now.
The district says closing South Timberlane Drive to public traffic would improve pedestrian and motor vehicle safety at both Timberlane Middle School and Central High School, which are separated only by South Timberlane and have about 1,000 students each.